KABUL (SW) – Fire engulfed a number of shops in downtown Kabul on Sunday.
The fire broke out in the ‘Melaad Market’ housing shops and warehouses for plastic products and shoes. It took the fire brigade seven hours to put off the fire, but not before goods worth millions went up in the flames.
Shopkeepers lamented that the roads were blocked by encroachment and messy transport that delayed the efforts to put off the fire.
Basir Mujahed, spokesman for police in Kabul, said the fire broke out in the second floor, and rapidly spread. He said a total of 300 shops are located in this five-floor market.
Meanwhile, Musafar Qoqandi, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the fire has inflicted heavy toll on poor traders.
Khwaja Masoum, head of the shopkeepers’ alliance in the first district of Kabul, said the fire erupted from a shoe shop.
Following a similar incident of fire five years ago, the Ministry of Finance made fire insurance obligatory for the markets in the area. There have been at least three major incidents of fire in this area during the past seven years.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Interior, has announced 13 burglars have been nabbed in the vicinity who were trying to escape with 10 million rupees from a trader. The cash has been handed over to the trader, it added.
ENDS
